dave.s Posted July 11, 2018 #1 Share Posted July 11, 2018 My wife and I were booked on a December Southern Caribbean sailing of the Jade. We recently received a notice that the itinerary was changed because of a "berthing conflict"; instead of visiting Dominica and Martinique, we're going to St. Kitts and St. Lucia instead. We haven't been to Dominica since 2003 and my wife has never been to Martinique, but we went to both St. Kitts and St. Lucia on our last Caribbean cruise, so we're not happy with the change. We're going to cancel and book a Princess cruise. How often does NCL make itinerary changes due to berthing conflicts? I did see other threads about this for different NCL sailings. I've been on many cruises before, but most have been on other cruise lines, and I don't recall ever having my itinerary change for this reason. Is this something that NCL does more than other cruise lines, or is it just happening more because there are more cruise ships? We were actually planning to take a Southern Caribbean cruise on the Jade last December, but NCL had to completely overhaul the itinerary because of hurricane damage to the ports, which was understandable. We cancelled that cruise also, but we were past final payment so we didn't get everything back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RossE Posted July 11, 2018 #2 Share Posted July 11, 2018 They changed the itinerary for four Bliss sailings this winter due to the lack of dock space Sent from my XT1254 using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Captain-John Posted July 11, 2018 #3 Share Posted July 11, 2018 They did the same for us in Stockholm on our upcoming Baltic cruise, changing it to Nynashamn. I refuse to accept 'berthing conflict' as a sufficiently detailed reason, given these things are booked so far in advance. So either someone else is paying more for that spot, or NCL were overly enthusiastic when they said they could get a ship as big as the Breakaway through the Stockholm archipelago. NCL are notoriously lacking in detail around changes such as this, even when they are probed and can't admit to making a mistake even if they have. 'Berthing conflict' is a coverall for any number of true reasons, it would seem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YVRBassElectric Posted July 11, 2018 #4 Share Posted July 11, 2018 For the Bliss inaugural Panama cruise the stop in Puerto Chiapas was cancelled due to the port realizing the boat was to big for it's dock! I have been to Puerto Chiapas and was shocked that it was on the itinerary in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njkate Posted July 11, 2018 #5 Share Posted July 11, 2018 They did the same for us in Stockholm on our upcoming Baltic cruise, changing it to Nynashamn. I refuse to accept 'berthing conflict' as a sufficiently detailed reason, given these things are booked so far in advance. So either someone else is paying more for that spot, or NCL were overly enthusiastic when they said they could get a ship as big as the Breakaway through the Stockholm archipelago. NCL are notoriously lacking in detail around changes such as this, even when they are probed and can't admit to making a mistake even if they have. 'Berthing conflict' is a coverall for any number of true reasons, it would seem. yes, that was disappointing and Stockholm is an hour away now :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Captain-John Posted July 11, 2018 #6 Share Posted July 11, 2018 (edited) yes, that was disappointing and Stockholm is an hour away now :mad: I was having quite intense e-mails with them immediately after the announcement of the change (before they announced the free transfers). The free transfers was the least they could do really, and I'm glad they did, but it's still a big disappointment to miss stunning scenery and have to sit on a bus or train for 2 hours + on vacation. Could have saved a bit of aggravation if they included the 'free transfer' offer in the original e-mail telling us of the change. Edited July 11, 2018 by Captain-John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zqvol Posted July 11, 2018 #7 Share Posted July 11, 2018 My wife and I were booked on a December Southern Caribbean sailing of the Jade. We recently received a notice that the itinerary was changed because of a "berthing conflict"; instead of visiting Dominica and Martinique, we're going to St. Kitts and St. Lucia instead. We haven't been to Dominica since 2003 and my wife has never been to Martinique, but we went to both St. Kitts and St. Lucia on our last Caribbean cruise, so we're not happy with the change. We're going to cancel and book a Princess cruise. How often does NCL make itinerary changes due to berthing conflicts? I did see other threads about this for different NCL sailings. I've been on many cruises before, but most have been on other cruise lines, and I don't recall ever having my itinerary change for this reason. Is this something that NCL does more than other cruise lines, or is it just happening more because there are more cruise ships? We were actually planning to take a Southern Caribbean cruise on the Jade last December, but NCL had to completely overhaul the itinerary because of hurricane damage to the ports, which was understandable. We cancelled that cruise also, but we were past final payment so we didn't get everything back. IMO this change is related to hurricane damage that has not been repaired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave.s Posted July 12, 2018 Author #8 Share Posted July 12, 2018 IMO this change is related to hurricane damage that has not been repaired. Maybe so for Dominica, but Martinique wasn’t impacted by the hurricanes last year. I also found another NCL itinerary visiting Dominica in December, unless they haven’t gotten around to changing that one yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapie Posted July 12, 2018 #9 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Not sure how often it happens, but today I received an email from NCL notifying us that our February 2019 cruise on the Sun has one port substituted for another because of " port congestion " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.S.Oceanlover Posted July 12, 2018 #10 Share Posted July 12, 2018 IMO this change is related to hurricane damage that has not been repaired. we were booked on the Dawn 10 day cruise on Dec 6 and they changed 5 of the 8 ports we were to visit. Since we just did most of the islands they changed to last October we canceled and booked RCI Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
napper777 Posted July 12, 2018 #11 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Maybe so for Dominica, but Martinique wasn’t impacted by the hurricanes last year. I also found another NCL itinerary visiting Dominica in December, unless they haven’t gotten around to changing that one yet. My Jade cruise in November was supposed to go to Dominica as well but that port was cancelled because of "birthing" issues too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmexicoNita Posted July 12, 2018 #12 Share Posted July 12, 2018 My wife and I were booked on a December Southern Caribbean sailing of the Jade. We recently received a notice that the itinerary was changed because of a "berthing conflict"; instead of visiting Dominica and Martinique, we're going to St. Kitts and St. Lucia instead. We haven't been to Dominica since 2003 and my wife has never been to Martinique, but we went to both St. Kitts and St. Lucia on our last Caribbean cruise, so we're not happy with the change. We're going to cancel and book a Princess cruise. How often does NCL make itinerary changes due to berthing conflicts? I did see other threads about this for different NCL sailings. I've been on many cruises before, but most have been on other cruise lines, and I don't recall ever having my itinerary change for this reason. Is this something that NCL does more than other cruise lines, or is it just happening more because there are more cruise ships? We were actually planning to take a Southern Caribbean cruise on the Jade last December, but NCL had to completely overhaul the itinerary because of hurricane damage to the ports, which was understandable. We cancelled that cruise also, but we were past final payment so we didn't get everything back. This is problem that often seems to happen and will probably continue due to mega ships. We have been lucky, only twice has this happened to us and luckily, in both cases there have been more that one port on the island.Both times it was Roatan. I can't answer the question as to how often it happens. I am hoping this doesn't happen to us on our Feb cruise. We have only 2 ports we have not visited. I would be very disappointed if we didn't get to visit them. Right now we are scheduled for 9 ports in 10 days, which is a lot. Some in our party would just as soon see one or two ports cancelled as they enjoy sea days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now